Dispensing containers



May 8, 1962 A. B. STOREY DISPENSING CONTAINERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 2, 1958 May 8, 1962 I A. B. STOREY 3,

DISPENSING CONTAINERS Filed Dec. 2, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 57. 3,1 I f t s i 1:\ IN \I is Patented May 8, 1962 3,033,396 DISPENSING CONTAINERS Alvin B. Storey, Matthews, N.C., assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 2, 1958, Ser. No. 777,672 9 Claims. (Cl. 214-301) This invention relates to multi-section cartons or containers for use in storing and shipping cigarette filter plugs and to dispensers or hoppers for use in combination with such containers.

Where cigarette filter plug elements are manufactured at a location distant from where they are to be used, it is necessary to pack the same into cartons or boxes which are then shipped to cigarette manufacturers. Upon arrival at the cigarette-making plant, it is then necessary to unpack the filter plug elements and to transfer them manually to the cigarette-making machines or to conveyors leading to such machines. This, of course, is an expensive and time-consuming procedure both in terms of the labor involved and the contamination and spoilage of the filter plug elements during the handling thereof.

It is an important object of this invention, therefore, to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages and to provide means by which cigarette filter plugs or plug elements may be efliciently and economically handled from the time they are produced until they are used in a cigarette-making machine.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a carton or like container which may be used as a package in which the filter plugs can be shipped from the manufacturing location to the cigarette-making plant and which may then be used as a magazine for a hopper or dispenser employed in feeding the filter plugs to the cigarette-making machine or onto a conveyor leading thereto.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a multi-section box one section of which, when disassembled, can be used as a magazine from which filter plugs are fed to a hopper-shaped dispenser and then to a cigarette-making machine.

More particularly, the present invention contemplates the provision of a box or carton consisting of two mating sections, one of which may be designated a base, and the other of which may be designated a lid. Both the lid and the base have the general configuration of a rectangular prism and are open at one of their wider faces and at one of their sides, the lid being provided with a gummed or adhesive flap at its open side. The construction is such that when the lid is fitted over the base with one of the side walls of the lid covering the open side of the base and with the flap positioned over one of the side walls of the base, the flap may be sealed to the last-named side wall, thereby fully closing the carton or box on all sides.

The present invention further contemplates the use of said box in combination with a hopper-like dispenser structure having an upper rack or supporting frame portion and a. lower funnel or hopper portion, the rack being open at its bottom and in communication with the interior of the funnel. The rack portion is dimensioned in accordance with the outer dimensions of the box or carton.

Thus, when it is desired to dispense the plugs from the carton or package in which they were shipped and/ or stored, the flap is disconnected or severed from the side wall of the base, for example, and the carton placed into the frame portion above the hopper portion in such a manner that the open side of the base faces downwardly and toward the. open bottom of the frame portion, whereupon withdrawal of the lid from the base will permit the plugs to drop directly into the hopper portion.

The foregoing and other objects, advantages and characteristics of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational view of a filter plug package or carton according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the base with the lid removed;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of the lid without the base;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the carton or like container in partly assembled or disassembled condition, illustrating the manner in which the lid and base are juxtaposed to one another;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a dispenser constructed in accordance with the present invention for use with a container as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the dispenser shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the manner in which a container according to the present invention is used as a magazine for the dispenser of FIG. 5.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 4, it will be seen that a carton or box It as provided by the present invention comprises two mating sections herein referred to as a base or article receiver 11 and a lid 12. The base 11 has the general configuration of a rectangular prism and includes a wide base wall 13 and three side walls 14, 15 and 16, while the lid 12, which also has the general configuration of a rectangular prism and is slightly larger than the base 11, includes a wide base Wall 17 and three side walls 18, 19 and 29. Thus, both the lid and the base are open at one side and at one of the wider faces thereof. The lid 12, however, is additionally provided with a gummed or adhesive flap 21 which is attached to the base wall 17 at the edge of the latter coinciding with the open side of the lid. The bodies of the lid and base are preferably made of any relatively strong and stiff packaging material, such as cardboard or polyethylene (other resinous polymer-type sheet materials may also be used), while the flap 21 of the lid 12 may be either constituted by the fourth side wall of the lid suitably cut out at its side edges 21a or by a strip of kraft paper or plastic tape having a gum or adhesive coated on one of its faces and attached to the base wall 17 of the lid. The wall 20 may be labeled with the legend Top or the like to indicate the upright position thereof.

As will be readily understood by reference to FIG. 4, assembly of the carton 10 is effected by sliding the lid 12 over the base 11 in the direction of the arrow A, the side wall 16 of the base having been first inserted through the open side of the lid, whereby the base will be located between the side walls 18 and 20 of the lid with the open side of the base being covered by the side wall 20. When the carton sections have been fully pushed together, the flap 21 is bent around and laid onto the side wall 14 of the base, moistened if necessary, and adhered to the said side wall 14. The completed carton will now look as shown in FIG. 1. It is to be noted that when the carton 10 is fully packed with filter plugs or plug elements (the term filter elements is herein employed to designate relatively long strips of filter material in rod-form which are later to be cut to proper filter plug size), the side walls 15 and 16 will be slightly bulged outwardly and pressed into firm frictional contact with the side walls 18 and 19 of the lid so as to prevent opening of the carton during transport or incidental handling. Tape may also be used to provide a more positive closure. Disassembly of the carton is effected by detaching or severing the flap 21 from the side wall 14 of the base and sliding the lid relative to the base in the direction of the arrow B.

Turning now to FIGS. to 7, it will be seen that the dispenser unit 22 provided in accordance with the present invention for use in combination with the hereinbefore described carton or box comprises a lower funnel or hopper portion 23 and an upper rack or supporting frame portion 24. The funnel portion 23 is substantially rectangular in cross-section and has converging slanted front and rear walls 25 terminating at their lower ends in a pair of substantially parallel walls 26 of an outlet section 27 provided with an outlet opening 28. Mounted atop the funnel portion 23 is a rectangular ledge 29 defining an inlet opening 30 for the funnel. Afiixed to two adjacent sides of the ledge 29 by any suitable means and extending upwardly therefrom is an angled wall member 31-31a, and to the side of the said ledge 29 opposite the wall member part 31 are affixed by any desired means a plurality (three are shown) of angle members or bracing elements 32. Thus, the rack or supporting frame portion 24 is basically constituted by the elements 31, 31a and 32, and the ledge 29 may be considered as constituting either the base member of the frame portion 24 or the top of the funnel portion 23. Both the openings 28 and 30 are, of course, made sufficiently wide to accommodate, i.e., permit passage of, the cigarette filter plugs or plug elements being manufactured and shipped.

In use, the strings or strips of filter material, usually in rod form, are cut by the manufacturer thereof into plug elements 33 of suitable length, say 90 mm., and these plug elements are then stacked into the base or article receiver 11 of the carton 10 which is then in the position shown in FIG. 2, the longitudinal axes of the filter plug elements extending perpendicularly to the base wall 13. The lid 12 is then slid onto and attached to the base 11 as explained hereinabove with reference to FIG. 4. The completed and fully packed carton is then ready for storage and/ or shipping to a cigarette manufacturer.

When the carton has been received at the cigarette manufacturing plant and it is desired to employ the plug elements 33 for the making of filter cigarettes, the flap 21 is first opened or detached from the side wall 14 of the base 11, and the entire carton is inverted so that the side wall 20 of the lid (which may be labeled Top" as set forth hereinabove) is at the bottom, which will, of course, dispose the open side of the base 11 at the bottom of the carton. The latter is now inserted bodily and flap first into the space between the wall member part 31 and the angle members 32 of the supporting frame portion 24 of the dispenser structure 22, the lower end 27 of which may be positioned directly above a conveyor 35 (indicated diagrammatically). When the carton has been fully inserted into the dispenser, to the extent permitted by the wall member part 31a, the lid 12 is withdrawn from the base 11, as indicated by the arrow C in FIG. 7, which frees the now open bottom of the base and permits the plug elements 33 to fall through the inlet opening 30 into the funnel portion 23 and thence through the outlet opening 28 onto the aforesaid conveyor, as indicated by the arrow D. None of the filter plug elements can, of course, fall laterally out of the dispenser 22 since the wall member part 31 now covers the open wider face of the base 11 which was previously covered by the wall 17 of the lid 12. Once on the conveyor, the plug elements may be fed to a suitable cutting machine or, if they were shipped in finally cut condition, directly to a cigarette making machine, indicated as 36, diagrammatically.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that the present invention provides a package or container which can be easily filled with articles of the type referred to and assembled for shipping purposes, and which can be used directly by the recipient as a magazine or cartridge from which such articles may be dispensed and fed to a manufacturing location. The combination of such a container with a specially constructed supporting and dispensing structure is further particularly advantageous in that it enables the user of the said articles to avoid the need for taking special precautions in the unpacking and subsequent handling of these articles, which has heretofore not been possible. Thus, the present invention renders the manufacture of filter cigarettes more economical than is now the case, inasmuch as the cigarette manufacturer will be able to reduce his expenses both in the labor and time required to unpack the filter elements and feed them to the cigarette making location, and in the amount of filter elements wasted due to bccoming soiled or otherwise unfit for use during manual handling.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the manufacture of filter cigarettes, it will be appreciated that its application is not so limited, since the disclosed multi-section container and the associated dis penser may be used in packaging, storing, shipping and dispensing other articles than filter plugs or plug elements.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is merely given by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Means for dispensing a plurality of articles, comprising in combination a supporting frame, said frame comprising a rectangular base member provided with a central opening, a pair of perpendicularly oriented wall members affixed to said base member at two adjacent sides thereof and extending upwardly therefrom, lateral bracing means affixed to said base member at the side thereof opposite one of said wall members, a magazine containing said articles retained within said supporting frame on said base member and between said wall members and bracing means, said magazine having the general configuration of a rectangular prism open at one face and at one side and disposed with said open face and open side facing said one wall member and said central opening, respectively, and a funnel affixed to said base member and extending downwardly therefrom for conducting said articles away from said magazine.

2. Dispensing means according to claim 1, further comprising means constituting a part of said magazine and normally covering said open side of the same and adapted to he slid away from the latter in order to permit said articles to fall into said funnel.

3. Dispensing means according to claim 2, said articles being substantially cylindrical in shape and arranged within said magazine with their axes parallel and oriented at right angles to said faces of said magazine and to said one wall member.

4. In combination, a funnel of rectangular cross-section having a lower rectangular outlet opening and an upper rectangular inlet opening, a rectangular supporting member mounted atop said funnel and provided with a rectangular passageway aligned and communicating with said inlet opening, a wall member having a wider portion and a perpendicular narrower portion affixed, respectively, to said supporting member at one of the longer sides and at one of the shorter sides thereof and extending upwardly from said supporting member, a plurality of parallel angle members affixed at spaced locations to said supporting member along the second longer side thereof and extending upwardly therefrom, and a magazine mounted on said supporting member in the space between said wider portion of said wall member and said angle members, said magazine comprising an article receiver and a lid therefor each having the general configuration of a rectangular prism the dimension of which from one of the wider faces thereof to the other is substantially equal to the width of said space, said receiver including a wide base wall at one of the wider faces thereof and engaging said angle members, a first narrow side wall engaging said narrower portion of said wall member, a second narrow side wall extending along the top of said space, and a third narrow side wall opposite said first side wall, the fourth side of said receiver being open and facing said passageway, and the other of the wider faces of said receiver being open and facing said wider portion of said wall member, said lid including a wide base wall covering said other wider face of said receiver and disposed between the latter and said wider portion of said wall member, and three narrow side walls one of which is disposed below said open fourth side of said receiver above said passageway and the other two of which extend along said second and third side walls of said receiver, respectively, said lid being open at its fourth side coinciding with said first side wall of said receiver, whereby upon extraction of said lid from said space in a direction away from said narrower portion of said wall member said fourth side of said receiver is freed to permit articles previously held in said magazine to drop through said passageway and said inlet opening into said funnel and thence through said outlet opening.

5. The combination of claim 4, and further comprising an adhesive flap attached to said wide base wall of said lid adjacent said open fourth side thereof so as to overlie the latter, said flap when adhering to said first side wall of said receiver holding the same and said lid together as a unit.

6. The combination of claim 5, and further comprising conveyor means disposed beneath said outlet opening of said funnel for conducting said articles away therefrom.

7. In combination, a funnel of rectangular cross-section having a lower rectangular outlet opening and an upper rectangular inlet opening, a rectangular supporting ledge surrounding the top of said funnel and defining a rectangular passageway aligned and communicating with said inlet opening, a wall member having a wider portion and a perpendicular narrower portion affixed, respectively, to said supporting ledge at one of the longer sides and at one of the shorter sides thereof and extending upwardly therefrom, a plurality of bracing members afiixed at spaced locations to said supporting ledge along the second longer side thereof and extending upwardly therefrom, and a magazine filled with cigarette filter plugs and positioned on said supporting ledge in the space between said wider portion of said wall member and said bracing members, said magazine comprising a plug receiver and a lid therefor each having the general configuration of a rectangular prism the dimension of which from one of the wider faces thereof to the other is substantially equal to the width of said space, said receiver including a wide base wall at one of the wider faces thereof and engaging said angle members, a first narrow side wall engaging said narrower pontion of said wall member, a second narrow side wall extending along the top of said space, and a third narrow side wall opposite said first side wall, the fourth side of said receiver being open and facing said passageway, and' the other of the wider faces of said receiver being open and facing said wider portion of said wall member, said lid including a wide base wall covering said other wider face of said receiver and disposed between the latter and said wider portion of said wall member, and three narrow side walls one of which is disposed below said open fourth side of said receiver above said passageway and the other two of which extend along said second and third side walls of said receiver, respectively, said lid being open at its second wider face coinciding with said base wall of said receiver and also at its fourth side coinciding with said first side wall of said receiver, and a conveyor below said outlet opening and leading to a cigarette making machine, said filter plugs having their axes oriented at right angles to said wide base walls of said lid and receiver and transversely to said passageway, whereby upon extraction of said lid from said space in a direction away from said narrower portion of said wall member said fourth side of said receiver is freed to permit said filter plugs to drop through said passageway and said inlet opening into said funnel and thence through said outlet opening onto said conveyor for transport to said cigarette making machine.

8. In combination, a funnel of rectangular cross-section having a lower rectangular outlet opening and an upper rectangular inlet opening, a wall member having a wider portion and a perpendicular narrower portion connected, respectively, to the top of said funnel at one of the longer sides and at one of the shorter sides thereof and extending upwardly therefrom, bracing means connected to the top of said funnel at the second longer side thereof and extending upwardly therefrom, and a magazine arranged in the space between said wider portion of said wall member and said bracing means, said magazine having the general configuration of a rectangular prism the dimension of which from one of the wider faces thereof to the other is substantially equal to the width of said space, said magazine including a wide base wall at one of the wider faces thereof and contacting said bracing means, a first narrow side Wall engaging said narrower portion of said wall member, a second narrow side wall extending along the top of said space, and a third narrow side wall opposite said first side wall, the fourth side of said magazine being open and facing said inlet opening, and the other of the wider faces of said magazine being open and facing said wider portion of said wall member, and cover means slidably disposed be tween said open fourth side of said magazine and said inlet opening of said funnel, whereby upon extraction of said cover means from said space in a direction away from said narrower portion of said wall member said fourth side of said magazine is freed to permit articles previously held therein to drop through said inlet opening into said funnel and thence out through said outlet opening.

9. In combination, a funnel of rectangular cross section having a lower rectangular outlet opening and an upper rectangular inlet opening, a rectangular supporting member mounted atop said funnel and provided with a rectangular passageway aligned and communicating with said inlet opening, a wall member having a wider portion and a perpendicular narrower portion afiixed, respectively, to said supporting member at one of the longer sides and at one of the shorter sides thereof and extending upwardly from said supporting member, a plurality of parallel angle members aifixed at spaced locations to said supporting member along the second longer side thereof and extending upwardly therefrom, and a magazine mounted on said supporting member in the space 7 between said wider portion of said wall member and said angle members, said magazine comprising an article receiver and a lid therefor each having the general configuration of a rectangular prism the dimension of which from one of the wider faces thereof to the other is substantially equal to the width of said space, said receiver including a wide base wall at one of the wider faces thereof and engaging said angle members, a first narrow side Wall engaging said narrower portion of said Wall member, a second narrow side wall extending along the top of said space, and a third narrow side wall opposite said first side wall, the fourth side of said receiver being open and facing said passageway, and the other of the wider faces of said receiver being open and facing said wider portion of said wall member, said lid including a wide base wall covering said other wider face of said receiver and disposed between the latter and said wider portion of said wall member, and at least one narrow side wall which is disposed below said open fourth side 7 of said receiver above said passageway, said lid being open at its side coinciding with said first side wall of said receiver, whereby upon extraction of said lid from said space in a direction away from said narrower portion of said wall member said fourth side of said receiver is freed to permit articles previously held in said magazine to drop through said passageway and said inlet opening into said funnel and thence through said outlet opening.

1,481,415 Casper Jan. 22, 1924 S Finch Aug. 23, 1927 Moss et a1 Mar. 20, 1928 Molins et a1 Aug. 5, 1952 Molins et al. June 15, 1954 Molins Feb. 1, 1955 Guyer Dec. 15, 1959 Schimel Dec. 15, 1959 

